If I have one recipe that I have given out the most, it is this one. As a result, it is now made in many countries including Israel and England! I think I first started to make this tart over 30 years ago. It really is quite easy after you try it once. Now a sweet part of our Rosh Hashanah tradition, this is my family’s favorite dessert, especially when I serve it with vanilla ice cream. Crust 1 cup flour (gluten-free, if desired) Pinch of salt 2 tablespoons sugar ½ cup butter 1 tablespoon white vinegar Filling 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons flour (gluten-free, if desired) Pinch of cinnamon 3 cups blueberries Powdered confectioner’s sugar (optional) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To make crust, combine flour, salt and sugar. Work in the butter by hand or in a food processor until just blended. Slowly add the vinegar as you work by hand or through the processor funnel until the dough comes together in a ball. Divide the dough into two separate balls, 2/3 and 1/3 of the whole. Press the larger ball evenly into the bottom of a 9-inch pie dish or a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a […] Read More >

This delicious chicken soup is a recipe of Sheila’s mother, who has treated the family with it for years! Enjoy it as a cozy beginning, or strain it and use as a chicken stock. For richer stock, begin with at least 1 cup more stock than is required for your recipe and reduce it to the amount you will need. Big pot for Passover 6 beaks and breasts or 1 chicken (4–5 pounds), preferably a stewing hen 3 quarts water 1 tablespoon salt 1 large or 2 medium size yellow onions 4 ribs celery with leafy tops 1 bunch fresh dill 4 carrots, peeled 3 parsnips, peeled Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste Rinse the chicken and trim off excess fat. Cut the chicken into quarters and place in a large stockpot. Add the water and 1 tablespoon salt. Cover the pot and heat to boiling. Uncover and skim off the scum from top. Add the onions, celery and half the dill. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Cut the carrots and parsnips in half and add to the stock. Simmer until the chicken is fork tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the pot […] Read More >

What are the chances that I will meet an interfaith couple and their children in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art? Percentages are very low, but many of my friends would not be surprised to hear that this happened to me. A year ago in Israel, we were on our way to meet Yael Engelhart and her boyfriend. On our previous visit to Tel Aviv, we bought two of her photographs. Before our rendezvous we headed over to the museum for a concert at the Blumenthal Music Festival. Michael wanted to hear the flamenco group. It turns out we mixed up the dates and ended up at the children’s concert, which we decided to stay for anyway. It was precious. The dancers were outstanding and the children so spirited as they were brought up onstage to learn the steps. Who would think that a children’s concert, without our own grandchildren, would be so enjoyable! After the concert, we ventured into the galleries where the Moshe and Sarah Mayer Collection of impressionist, fauve, and expressionist artists were on exhibit. We were in awe of this collection of 41 outstanding paintings. As we spoke to each other, a young man pushing a stroller […] Read More >

Guest Post By Lara Nicolson, Interfaith Engagement Director at the Baltimore JCC As a child, Passover was my favorite family holiday, we hosted Seders with my extended family, including my two living grandmothers, my aunts and my three girl cousins, so our celebrations always involved beautiful and confident female voices leading the songs, asking the questions and making lots of jokes. Our mothers were amazing hosts and cooks and hand-made all the Passover foods from their Lithuanian roots, including herring, imberlach (ginger candy) and of course matzah ball soup. They would adapt the recipes using ingredients they found in South Africa and would make their own kosher-for-Passover wine with grapes from the local vineyards. Fast-forward 40 years to Baltimore, Maryland, and my immediate and extended family here represents a new Jewish reality—we are diverse in Jewish denominations, nationalities, gender orientation and faith backgrounds. My husband is not Jewish, and though we are raising our children in a Jewish home, their connections and interests are far from my homogenous upbringing. Over the last 12 years, we have adapted our Passover traditions to ensure that they are meaningful to everyone. We’ll include vegan-friendly dishes, and compare the Passover story to current political […] Read More >

It’s not often that I get to do an entirely new program, but recently that is exactly what I did. I conducted a workshop for interfaith couples on how to raise Jewish children. Miriam Szubin and I have been trying to do this class for quite some time but somehow it never got onto the schedule. In her position as Director of the Parenting Center of the Edlavitch DCJCC, Miriam creates all the programs related to parenting. Last August she contacted me and was totally committed to making this happen. Then in mid-January, it finally happened! So many things are interesting about the group of couples who attended this class. They were all interfaith; most had children, but one was pregnant, and another was preparing for when they would have children of their own. None of them had their children in the EDCJCC preschool. Most had been in the EDCJCC before with their children who had taken music, swimming, or gymnastics classes, or had attended a holiday celebrations event as a family. All the couples except for one lived in this urban neighborhood. I find this population very interesting because five years ago none of them would be living in […] Read More >

Originally published on eJewish Philanthropy The “Statement on Jewish Vitality” falls short. But we can make effective Jewish programs for interfaith couples and families! By Marion L. Usher, Ph.D Three times each week nursery school children meet after their daycare program for a Jewish program called MoEd DC at the Washington DCJCC. The focus is on Hebrew study through immersion and Judaics balanced with play and homework time. It is a small, effective, opportunity that brings young interfaith families into the Jewish community. Mothers can learn how to bake challah at any of the Whole Food Markets throughout the Washington area, a regular program sponsored by PJ Library. On Sunday mornings, a Jewish focused story-reading session occurs for young children serving interfaith and Jewish families living in the city. These are but a few of the many low-barrier entrance programs into the Jewish community, and we need to learn from them. All these programs stand in sharp contrast to the latest “Statement on Jewish Vitality,” which just saddened me. The solutions it offered were unexciting and are unlikely to have any impact on young interfaith couples. The study suggests that “effective responses are feasible” – but none are proposed specifically for interfaith couples […] Read More >

Here were are in Brooklin, Maine, with our dear friends James Schwartz and Tim Boggs, enjoying meaningful conversation, delicious food, and magnificent scenery. Within two seconds of our arrival we always resume our intimate relationships and fall into our usual habitats of taking care of each other and exploring our inner lives. Revealing our doubts, our challenges, and our resolutions is all part of the fabric for touching and exploring. This is a 30-year-old friendship of sharing homes and our lives together. When we lived as neighbors on Hillyer Place in Washington, we ate together on a weekly basis, enjoying our love of food, wine, and conversation. In that spirit, I want to share James’ Apple Crustada (free-form tart) recipe: Dough 1 cup flour 1 stick cold butter 2 tablespoons sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1-2 tablespoons water Filling 4 apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and cut into chunks Zest from 1 orange Topping ½ stick cold butter ¼ cup sugar ¼ flour ¼ teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon allspice 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Dough: Put all ingredients in the bowl of food processor; pulse until they form a ball. Roll out the dough into a rough circle on a floured surface, […] Read More >

On May 29, 2015, seventy people—families, couples, young children and babies—all gathered together to celebrate Shabbat. Who are these people and why is this unique? These are “City Jews” who have made a commitment to live in the city, even in parts of the city where none of us veteran Washingtonians would have dared to go five years ago. Did I say five years—how about two years ago? They are committed to city life and urban living including public school education for their children. Many work in the social justice world and want to actively participate in making the world a better place. At 6 pm, the first people begin to arrive. A few kinks had to be resolved, such as getting the people into the locked building! The crowd assembled, and the excitement in the room was electric with children running up and down the halls, parents chatting with each other, and introductions being made. This is exactly the buzz we were hoping for. Some people knew each other; some recognized their neighbors; some didn’t know anyone; and others came out of pure curiosity. But they were all there to have Shabbat dinner with a community of likeminded people. […] Read More >

A few months ago, Phyllis Katz of Kol Shalom Congregation in Rockville, MD, contacted me to see if I was interested in speaking at her synagogue. She has organized a series of discussions to better serve the needs of her fellow congregants who have grandchildren in interfaith marriages or interfaith parents in the congregation raising Jewish children, and she wanted me to conduct one of these sessions. When I asked her who she thought would be in the audience, she said there might be both grandparents and parents. This intrigued me! I have conducted many workshops for each group, but this would be my first time having both together in the same room. As I prepared some points to present, I also tried to get ready to dance on one foot since some of the issues that are relevant for one group are really not that important to the other. On the other hand, many are common to both, such as, “How do you transmit a Jewish identity to a child (your child or grandchild)?” Phyllis and I were both pleased with the turnout. As I looked around the room, I noticed that the grandparents sat on one side of […] Read More >